Gonda, India (July 2015) — Pavan Kumar lives with his wife Shashi and their two children — a 10-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy — in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda District. Gonda is a high-priority district for health interventions. In this community, Accredited Social Health Activists (AS

Gerald Mwangi stands in front of his new home that he built with proceeds from his hauling business. Nyandarua County, Kenya—When Gerald Mwangi’s daughter died from HIV-related complications, Mwangi was distraught and overwhelmed at the prospect of caring for his five, now orphaned gr

Urbanization is a by-product of modernization that brings with it unique health challenges. In Kenya, an estimated 32% of Kenya's growing population already lives in urban areas with at least 60% of this population living in informal settlements (slums). In Nairobi, 80% of the urban p

Kisumu, Kenya -- When Silper Agandi, a cleaner at the Tupange-supported Migosi Health Centre, received an invitation to a training session on family planning, she was sure there had been a mistake.
“Those things are always for the nurses and doctors only—why would they ever want a

While going door-to-door during his monthly home health visits in Subuku, a community in the Nakuru Central District of Rift Valley Province in Kenya, Community Health Worker (CHW) Albert Waweru heard an increasing number of residents complaining about malaria. What he saw concerned h

Kenya experiences high rates of maternal mortality, as well as HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. This is particularly the case in urban slums like Nairobi’s Korogocho and Viwandani. Although public health facilities are within walking distance to homes, many residents won’t

When Jane Otai walks through the Nairobi slums of Korogocho and Viwandani, she is no stranger. No stranger to the women living in corrugated-metal shacks or worse, no stranger to the poverty, overcrowded conditions and health problems devastating families. “I really lived within the u

In Asia, population growth is creating urban mega-regions with adverse health conditions for residents. In India, one million babies are born in slums each year. Health conditions and services for such children and their mothers are already marginalized. A Q&A with Jhpiego’